


With a Heart Like the Sea

by End



Series: Azul Waters [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Ambiguous Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Empathy, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Introspection, Lions as Humans, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8983759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/End/pseuds/End
Summary: Lance gives away a few of his memories in order for Keith to keep his. The memories he chooses tell more about him that he thought.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Gasp! A one-shot that is actually meant to be a one-shot?! Holy shit! It's an all-new accomplishment for me!
> 
> ((Guess who writes random shit when she can't think of what to write for her other fics? It's me, I do that. Send prompts I guess maybe i'll make a series out of them if you do. I need to find my inspiration for Bring About My End, Only For You i take ideas))
> 
> anyway

“Keith, watch out!” Lance shouts from across the deck. “Druid!”

 

Keith feels the lightning his his neck, making his body spasm for a moment. Gritting his teeth, he throws his weight onto one of the sentries, forcing it to the ground and tearing out a bunch of wires without thinking. More electricity travels through his body, and he shoves himself away. His bayad is within arms reach now, so he reaches and-  _ holy shit _ , that hurts. This whole thing is his own fault, really. He made a stupid move, and now he has to deal with the consequences. For once, he regrets not listening to Lance.

 

“Keith!” He hears, and suddenly there’s someone kneeling over him, eyes a bright, glowing blue. “Shit, what do I do?!”

 

His vision is starting to tunnel, and he can feel his life slipping away. Memories seem to fall away, leaving him staring up are vaguely familiar blues until the world goes black.

 

“Yeah, no. Don’t give up on me now, buddy.” Says the person above him, pressing their fingers against his neck. “I’ll make sure both of us get home safely, I promise.”

 

Keith lets go.

 

-

 

Crouched at the edge of a lake, the tide brushing his toes, a young boy smiles serenely as he looks over the lake. He flicks a smooth stone into the air, watching it sail through the air and hit the water with a soft  _ plip _ . The surface ripples, spreading outward until it reaches his toes, and he smiles. 

 

“Lance, Come inside! It’s getting dark!” Shouts a voice, shattering the peace.

 

“Yes, Mama!” Replies the little boy. He looks down at his hands for a moment, curling and uncurling them. The water ripples from the center of the lake. “Goodbye, Lady.”

 

The wind blows, whispering into the trees.  _ Goodbye, little paladin. _

 

The kid scurries off, leaving Keith alone amongst the trees. “...Where am I?”

 

The lake ripples again, catching his eye. He watches as the ripple goes past the edge of the water, all the way to his feet, and then he’s standing in an empty living room. 

 

The boy walks in, carrying a small child in his arms and humming. His eyes are narrowed slightly, his lips curved into a gentle smile. The blue of his eyes glows slightly, and the child in his arms coos softly, reaching upwards towards the boy’s face. The boy laughs lightly, carefully balancing the child on his hip and giving her his hand. The baby coos again, wrapping tiny hands around long, thin fingers in wonder. 

 

“Baba!” The baby giggles. “Baba!”

 

“Yes, Bella?” The boy replies, voice soft with fondness. “Are you hungry?” 

 

The baby giggles again, clapping her hands. The boy laughs again, hoisting the child back up his hip and turning to the kitchen. 

 

“Mama, Bella is hungry!” He shouts into the doorway. Bella laughs in his arms. 

 

The baby claps again, and Keith finds himself in a crowded hallway. He looks around and sees banners of blue over rows of lockers, and walls painted with crudely made murals. 

 

The boy steps out of a nearby classroom with a sigh and makes his way through the crowd, tapping his fingers against the edge of one of the binders in his arms. He makes it to his locker without much trouble, and Keith swears he sees lights at the boy’s fingertips.

 

“Lance!” Someone shouts, and the boy’s face lights up with a smile. 

 

“Hunk!” replies the boy, his hand relaxing as he looks over the metal door. His grin is bright and his eyes sparkle, waving cheerfully at his friend.

 

Keith takes a step forward, and the world flickers again. 

 

He’s in a dark bedroom. The boy sits in the center of his bed, staring up at the faintly glowing star shaped stickers on his ceiling. His knees are tucked close to his chest, his smooth cheeks shimmering with tears. His fingers tug at the loose strings at the edges of the blanket that’s draped across his shoulders.

 

“...Lady, what do I do now?” The boy whispers. 

 

The sound of rain grows louder suddenly, and there is a flash of light followed but the crash of thunder after a few seconds.  _ You follow your heart, my paladin. What do you want to do? _

 

“My heart, huh…?” The boy holds a hand out, reaching upwards toward the ceiling, at the star stickers above his head. He waves his fingers a bit, at the water of his tears travels through the air to meet them, droplets dancing around his fingertips. 

 

“What do  _ I _ want to do? I’ve spent my whole life helping others, and now…” He sighs and clenches his hand into a fist. The water stops at his knuckles. “I…”

 

He pulls his hand down and holds both of them out in front of his face, staring at the droplets hovering above his palms. “What happened to my dream? I can’t even remember what I wanted…”

 

The boy gives a breathy laugh, but it’s empty, bitter. More of his tears join the water in his hands. His eyes, which normally sparkle with stars, are dull. His smile has lost its glow, darkened with grief. A choked sob escapes his throat, and he slouches forward onto his knees.

 

“What have I been trying to accomplish?” The boy asks the empty air. “God, I don’t even know what my heart wants anymore. What sort of dreams did I have? I don’t remember...”

 

Keith takes a step forward, but this time, the world stays firmly in place. He reaches out, moving more quickly now, to comfort the boy. His hand touches the boy’s shoulder, and then the world slips away from him like sand between his fingers.

 

“No…!” Keith breathes, unable to stop it. The boy fades away, and then he’s standing in the middle of the desert, looking up at the night sky, the horizon slowly growing brighter. He turns around, confused, and sees-

 

The boy- though perhaps man is a better descriptor now-  leans up against the wall of a very familiar shack, staring up at the stars. One hand clutches at something under his shirt over his heart, and his eyes seem to glow faintly.  

 

“Lance, Shiro’s awake.” Someone says, opening the door. The man nods and walks inside.

 

Keith moves to follow, stepping through the doorway.

 

Instead of a shack, however, he finds himself in a cave, the walls covered in glowing runes. A group of people stands around a large wall of energy, within which the Blue Lion resides. The man stands front and center, knocking lightly. The wall falls, and the man grins.

 

Keith sees himself standing near the man, and his mind desperately tries to remember what was happening at the time.  He can’t remember any of the people in the group except himself and the man, and he can’t even recall the man’s name.

 

“Who-?” He starts, but blue light fills his vision, and he stops. He blinks his eyes to clear the temporary blindness, and he sees the man moving quickly, shoving someone else to the ground as a wave of explosive heat and smoke rolls over them. 

 

When the heat reaches Keith, the world fades away again, but memories slowly filter into his head. 

 

He turns, looking for the man, but he sees a fight. The man shoots, a smirk lighting up his once darkened face, and Keith’s other self falls through him as he kicks the galra into the particle barrier.

 

The green paladin swoops in and tears her bayard through the soldier’s arm, sending the clunky metal crashing to the ground. The galra falls to his knees, growling, before he goes unconscious. 

 

His other self rushes to the man’s side and the green paladin helps the leader. The man looks up, smiling softly. The moment looks intimate.

 

“We did it,” Says the man, and Keith’s other self smiles as well. “We are a good team.”

 

And then Keith is falling through the ground, memories flooding his mind. He clutches his head between his hands with a hiss. “What the hell…?” 

 

He massages his temples with his thumbs and looks up, but this time, there isn’t a scene to see. He’s in an empty white room, with bright lights that hum annoyingly and make his eyes sting. “Where-?”

 

“So you’ve remembered everything?” He hears a low, feminine voice behind him, and he tenses. “Relax, Keith. It’s just me.”

 

He turns around and sees a woman, her hair a bright red that drapes over her shoulders like a velvet curtain. Her eyes are a piercing blue, bright like neon lights, and her pupils are slit like a cat’s. Her skin is the color of warm caramel, and her arms are marked with tattoos of blue, red, and black. She isn’t nude, but her clothes leave little to the imagination. Her skirt is long and slit at both sides up to her thighs, the front section white while the rest is a deep prussian blue. Her top sticks closely to her curves, the straps dropping off her shoulders to reveal a sharp collarbone. The piece around her waist is also deep blue, and the bust area is white. The belt and straps are a shimmering gold, partially covered by the red velvet locks that drop a little past her waist.

 

“...Red?” He asks,  already knowing the answer. She looks different from what he had imagined. By Earth standards, her beauty is the unconventional kind, of thick thighs and muscled arms instead of thin and dainty, with thin, sharp eyes instead of large round ones.  Even her skin, dark and marred with scars, breaks the norm he grew up with, but it makes her all the more beautiful. Her smile is sharp as well, the catlike sharpness of her teeth unnerving.

 

“Took you long enough,” She grins bitterly. “We haven’t much time. You’re lucky that blue paladin of yours- Lance, is it?- was able to stabilize you before those druids could take  your memories away permanently. I guess he had to use his own memories in exchange.”

 

Keith blinks, thoroughly confused. “What do you mean by that?”

 

Red stares at him.  

 

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” She says with a slow shake of her head. “Oh goddess, you aren’t joking, are you? Do you not know?”

 

“Know what?” Asks Keith, growing more irritated by the second. Red looks over his shoulder and her eyes widen.

 

“We don’t have time for this!” She says frantically, placing her hands on his shoulders and forcibly turning his around. “Look, I’m sure he’ll explain it to you later, but right now you have situation on your hands, do you hear me? Once you wake up, you need to be ready to fight, no hesitations. Now go!” 

 

With that, Red shoves him away, and then he’s falling.

 

-

 

His eyes open abruptly, and he wraps his fingers around the handle of his bayard. His back still burns, and his neck still stings, but he hoists himself up. 

 

“Keith!” Lance is still kneeling nearby, lifting his head away from the sight on his gun to smile softly at him. His voice is breathy, his eyes drooping slightly from exhaustion. Keith smiles tightly back with a nod, and Lance goes back to his gun.

 

Keith stands, holding out the blade of his bayard and looking around. The druid from earlier is clutching their shoulder, golden liquid spilling onto the dark fabric of their robes. Keith blinks and turns to Lance again, confused. Lance doesn’t move away from the gun and fires a few more shots in the Druid’s direction. An ear splitting screech resounds through the room, and sentries drop like flies at the sound. Keith looks over at the druid again, watching as they fall to their knees with an anguished wail.

 

“Go for it.” Lance says, and he leans back against the metal panel he was crouched behind. Keith nods and hops over, blade at the ready.

 

The Druid barely has time to react when the edge of Keith’s dagger slices cleanly through their neck. The mask clatters to the floor, and wide, glowing yellows stare up at him in shock and terror. The body moves forward ever so slightly, and then disappears into a puddle of glowing gold liquid. He looks up, breathing heavily. Lance shoots him a thumbs up from his place behind the panel. 

 

“Nice work, samurai.” He grins as Keith walks back over. 

 

“Thanks. You too.” Keith smiles back. “Speaking of which-”

 

But Lance sways, slamming a heavy hand onto the side of the panel to stabilize himself. “Can we talk about this later? We should head back to the castle.” 

 

-

 

_ “It’s a form of Empathy,” Says Lance, tightening his grip on the controls of his lion when he sways again. “But much more complicated. I can transfer memories, ideas, emotions, and feelings, as well as read them on people. On inanimate objects- and only on inanimate objects- I can transfer movement as well, sort of like telekinesis.” _

 

_ “Empathy…?” Keith blinks. “Wait, if you can transfer ideas, isn’t that like a form of mind control too?” _

 

_ “No.” Lance shakes his head and grits his teeth, removing one hand from the controls to press a hand against his side. He pulls it back and grimaces at it. “ I can’t force someone to think It’s a good idea. It goes in like a passing thought, and if they like it, they use it. I have no say in how it turns out.” _

 

_ “Wait, that’s how you know when Pidge hasn’t gotten any sleep, isn’t it?” Keith says, leaning forward slightly to see Lance’s reaction. _

 

_ “Don’t get me started on Pidge and sleep deprivation.” Lance groans, leaning back dramatically. “It hits me like a truck! All my skincare goes to waste! Do you know how irritating that is? Seriously, we should have rounds or something to make sure she actually gets some sleep-” _

 

_ Lance stops to cough, lifting his hand to cover his mouth. The black fabric at his fingers is stained with red. _

 

-

 

When they arrive at the castle, the others are waiting eagerly in the hangar. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran are all talking excitedly about the new information the two had acquired, crowding around the computer in Pidge’s lap. Shiro and Allura stand side by side near the red and Blue sections of the hangar, facing the doors where the two paladins are expected to enter through.

 

Keith steps out first, exhausted. He glances back at the door to the blue lion worriedly as he stumbles forward. Shiro catches his arm and looks down at him, holding him steady.

 

“How’d it go?” he asks, and Keith nods.

 

“Well enough. I think Lance is hurt-” Keith starts as Lance stumbles through the doors. 

 

“Lance!” Hunk detaches himself from his conversation to greet Lance. Lance gives him a light hearted grin and takes a step forward.

 

Keith moves forward, away from Shiro, just as Lance begins to fall.

  
“Lance!”

**Author's Note:**

> you know originally I despised Lance and now he's my favorite
> 
> maybe it's bc I too am a flirty ((asexual)) biromantic latina with anxiety that covers any and all forms of discomfort and negative emotions with humor and over-the-top dramatics with an unfounded rivalry with some guy who's probably better than me at everything
> 
> or maybe its bc hes actually a puppy idk


End file.
